Former Paralympic champion David Smith has revealed he has been diagnosed with cancer for a fourth time and faces losing his life if he chooses not to have the tumour that is crushing his spinal cord removed.
However, if he does opt for surgery, he faces the prospect of being paralysed from the neck down.
Smith won rowing gold at London 2012 before switching to cycling in the aftermath of those Games. But he was unable to compete at Rio 2016 due to the return of his tumour, which required urgent surgery.
However, he battled back from that setback and regained his place in the GB team, with the 40-year-old competing in the Para-Cycling Road World Championships in Italy. On his return from that competition though, Smith was given the devastating news that his cancer had returned.
And speaking to BBC Scotland, he revealed how he copes with the psychological side of his cancer
"The way I deal with the news when I get told, the way I deal with the surgeries, the way I deal with the rehab, is that I try to use the same perception as if I'm getting into a ring or going on the start line of an Olympic final," he said.
"Simply because that releases a lot of positive hormones. The real secret is the conversation. Not the one you have externally with other people, it's the conversation you have with yourself internally.
"You can have a conversation in the street then you leave, but you are never really leaving the dialogue that's inside your own mind."
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